Tanabata Tutorial: 7 Ways To Wish Upon A Star

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7 types of Star Festival Decorations. Via.

According to an ancient legend, wishes come true during Tanabata, Japan's summer "Star Festival", which occurs every year on the seventh day of the seventh month (those following the lunar calendar observe in August, but people in the U.S. celebrate in July.) On that day, festival-goers write their wishes on a colorful piece of paper called tanzaku and tie it to a branch of a bamboo tree.

Although the legend varies slightly from region to region, it is celebrated all over Japan (and at Japan Society this Sunday!) The story goes that Hikoboshi, the star of Altair, and Orihime, the star of Vega, are two lovers separated by the Milky Way. Orihime was a skilled weaver, but because she spent most of her time weaving, she had no time to love. Her father, Emperor Tentei, saw how sad she was about this and arranged a marriage for her with Hikoboshi. But now Orihime had no time to weave because of her newfound love, so Tentei forbid the two from seeing each other, except for one day a year as long as they wished hard enough every other day. Tanabata celebrates the lovers’ reuniting.

Seven is the magic number for Tanabata, so there are seven types of decorations with special significance:

Tanzaku - wishes for academic success and technical skills.

Kinchaku - shaped like a purse, this decoration is a wish for success with money.

Kamigoromo - shaped like a tiny Kimono, this is for better sewing skills, success with style.

Toami - the net papers, these represent success for good fishing and harvest.

Orizuru - a chain of paper cranes, if you hang these you wish for good health and a long life.

Kuzukago - the trash net, this indicates wishes for cleanliness and thriftiness with money.

Fukinagashi - these aren’t really wishes, they are colorful streamers that represent the fabric Orihime wove.

Click here for a cute manga explaining the decorations and the legend. Our own About Japan teaching rwesource ebsite has some simple Tanabata activity and craft-making guides you can do at home or at school.

Japan Society's Tanabata observance includes interactive, family-friendly activities and an opportunity to hang your own tanzaku on Japan Society's bamboo trees. The event is recommended for children 3-10 and their accompanying adults, but couldn’t we all use a wish or two? Happy Tanabata!

--Sarah Anderson

(UPDATED 7/14/13)

People, Monsters, Kids: Not Always What They Seem

Oh yes, it's an oni! Via.

We wrote about the OBAKE! costume party this Friday, but in addition, we have a Halloween treat just for the kids. Japan Society's Education Program invites children ages 3-10 to Meet Japan’s Mystical Folklore Creatures & Ghosts before the witching (i.e. trick-or-treating) hour on Sunday, October 31st.

Theatre Arts Japan -KIDS- debuts a new play written especially for this event, introducing the fantastical world of Japan's otherworldly creatures. In the story, a young man encounters a kind old woman on his way to light a lantern on a mountain top. When she invites him for tea, distracting him from his duties, the boy discovers she is not at all what she seems. He must turn to the mystical yokai  creatures in the woods and decide whether they are friend or foe and able to help him.

Among the throngs of Japanese beasties (there are literally hundreds), kids discover the tengu, a mysterious flying mountain creature; the kappa, a funky, frog-like river creature; the rokurokubi, a beautiful woman with a surprisingly long neck; and the ornery oni, who has the horns of a cow and the fangs of a tiger. After the theater performance, actors work with the children to create masks so they can transform into their favorite creatures from the show.

BOO!

For our more adult  monster enthusiasts, we hope to see you at the Friday, October 29 OBAKE! party. In honor of both events, here's another update on a traditional Japanese ghost story, this time for the parents:

The weather outside is cold and rainy, so your kids and their friends are bound indoors. You put them in the playroom, promising sweet treats if they behave and play quietly. For a time, they play as quietly as they can, but slowly peals of giggles crescendo  from behind the door. When you go to check on them, they blame each other for moving things, tickling each other or playing little tricks—all of which each denies. As you leave, you hear a soft giggle, and turn around to see them all looking at you with wide eyes. Relative quiet ensues as you prepare the snacks, but total, eerie silence meets you when you walk back into the room. What are they up to? And did you see one of them duck under the table? You shake your head, but take a quick peek when you set the treats down. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you. As you start to divide the treats, a ghostly little hand grabs one. You follow the hand, past the silken translucent sleeve, to the face of a small girl in a pink kimono, nibbling on a cookie. She smiles, crumbs falling to the floor and disappears. Your child's new playmate is a Zashiki Warashi.

S.H., S.J.

Go Shichigosan!

As an American kid living in Japan, I remember my first shichigosan ceremony.  My fellow playmates, neighbors and other children dressed up in their little hakama and kimonos and proceeded to the local shrine (maybe for their first time, I know it was mine). We walked up the stairs, through the aged torii gate into the main shrine’s building to be blessed and given a bag with chitose-ame ("thousand-year candy") which is a long, thin red and white candy--that reminded me of a candy cane. In Japanese culture it represents growth when placed in a small bag with a crane and turtle-- all to give long life.

The Shichigosan, or the 7-5-3 ceremony, began around the Heian period as a rite of passage from childhood into young adulthood. Each age represented a different achievement within the child’s life. At the age of three, a child could begin to grow their hair, representing they were no longer babies. At the age of five, boys could wear the hakama, and at age seven the girls could begin wearing an obi with their kimono. By age seven all children were considered young adults and ready to enter a new phase in their lives. This ritual also was a way to chase away evil spirits from the child to ensure that they would be given a long healthy life.

Shichigosan is a special ceremony that makes a child feel a bit more magical and ready to take on the world. Though the two ceremonies Japan Society hosts with the Shinto Foundation this weekend are full, we wish all children, no matter what nationality or religion health, happiness and well being!

S.H.

Eyes To The Skies: Tanabata Lands At Japan Society

A wish for world peace via.

In Japan, Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is a celebration of the meeting of two lovers blazing in the stars. Separated by the Milky Way, Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by Vega, the Weaver Star, and Altair, the Cowherd Star, respectively) are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. On this day of heavenly miracles, people write wishes on colorful strips of paper and hang them on decorated bamboo trees.

On Sunday, July 11th, Japan Society invites children ages 2-10 to celebrate with the family program Japan's Star Festival: Create Tanabata Decorations. Educator and master storyteller Tara McGowan introduces a variety of fun and exciting folktales through kamishibai traditional Japanese storytelling. Tara discussed the power of the medium in a recent article about her work and kamishibai in general:

"Children can go off on wild directions and lose focus. The cards keep them structured within the story. There’s something very concrete about it, and it’s a wonderful way to get children to play with story elements."

In addition to telling Tanabata stories specific to the holiday, Tara pays homage to the stars with more celestial stories that are engaging and illuminating for the whole family.

Children and their parents can also take part in an assortment of craft activities, such as making traditional tanzaku (paper strips for writing wishes), paper stars, colorful paper chains, and more. Children can proudly display their handmade tanzaku and ornaments on bamboo trees at the Society.

For those who can’t make it to Japan Society, we've posted tanzaku instructions on our site About Japan: A Teacher’s Resource, so you can make them at home or wherever you are.

Have fun stargazing and may your wishes come true!

S.I.

America's Heroes: Meet Graphic Heroes

Starting Memorial Day, the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families have echeloned over 700 museums and galleries across America for the Blue Star Museums initiative.

Japan Society is honored to be taking part, inviting active duty military personnel and their families to enjoy Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters for FREE through the exhibition's June 13 closing. With New York City's Fleet Week in full swing, we'll start the Blue Star Museums action a bit early on Saturday, May 29.

Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters' 1850s pacific overtures are filled with selfless samurai, tattooed tough guys, lovely ladies, ghastly ghosts, cozy cats, and rockin' octopi. The critics have noted Kuniyoshi's "eye for the fantastic and the ghoulish remains unmatched," and his "greatest prints represent turbulent, epic visions" that are "as fresh as this morning’s manga."

Blue Star Museums lasts through Labor Day. Though Japan Society Gallery closes June 13 until fall, other New York City organizations taking part include: American Folk Art Museum, Asia Society, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Bronx Museum, Guggenheim, The Jewish Museum, The Met, MoMA, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Jewish Heritage, Museum of the City of New York, New York Botanical Garden, New York City Fire Museum, New York Transit Museum, Noguchi Museum, Staten Island Children's Museum,  Wave Hill, and the Whitney.

This Memorial Day Weekend, Japan Society Gallery is open Friday until 9 pm, and Saturday & Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. The Gallery is closed Monday. As always, members and children under 16 are free anytime.

Have a safe holiday!

(NO, SJ)

News Blast

Photo courtesy of Popsci

Japanese group aims to put humanoid robot on moon by 2015

Looking largely to inspire dreams of space among the Japanese, a manufacturing cooperative named Astro-Technology SOHLA announced on April 27th that they are planning to create and send a two-legged humanoid robot to the moon, have it draw the Japanese flag on the surface, and then hopefully get it back to the Earth, all by the year 2015. Making inspirational ideas about space technology a reality is not new to the Osaka-based cooperative of six small and medium sized enterprises. SOHLA had previously built a small-scale satellite, named Maido-1, as a demonstration of the ability of SMEs to research and create short-term, low-cost space technology which could help improve local economic activity.

Number of children in Japan falls to record low for 29th year in row

The number of children in Japan under the age of 15 is estimated to have dropped 190,000 in the last year to 16.94 million, marking a record low for the 29th consecutive year, the government said Tuesday. In a report issued on the eve of Children's Day, a national holiday, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said kids comprised 13.3 percent of the population as of April 1. It was the 36th straight year the percentage has fallen and remained the lowest worldwide.

LDP to submit draft constitutional revisions

The leading opposition Liberal Democratic Party has decided to submit a draft proposal of constitutional revisions to the current Diet session, after the National Referendum Law is enforced May 18, sources said. The LDP is primarily considering easing the requirements for amending the Constitution, which are stipulated in Article 96 of the nation's top law. As the Deliberative Council on the Constitution in each chamber of the Diet has been dormant, there is no prospect the draft will actually be examined. Nevertheless, the LDP is aiming to demonstrate its resolve for constitutional revision ahead of the House of Councillors election in summer.

Portable beauty appliances powering lunch-time pampering

Younger women wanting to pamper themselves in the office are providing a ready market for a new breed of portable electric devices. While older generations of women may have tended to confine their crimping and preening to their own boudoirs, twenty- and thirtysomethings are increasingly demanding electric beauty equipment they can take on the go. "Men cannot even imagine the 'heat' in ladies' rooms at work places during the lunch break or after work," one female employee of an electric goods manufacturer said.

Japan's Green zones itchy to be global geoparks

Local residents and groups across the nation are stepping up efforts to have their areas certified as global geoparks, where rare landscapes useful for learning how the Earth was formed will be preserved and utilized as natural parks. Preparations are under way in eight areas, such as Muroto in Kochi Prefecture, to follow in the footsteps of Itoigawa river in Niigata Prefecture, which became the nation's first global geopark last year. Associations to promote areas as global geoparks have been established in 20 regions, including the Chichibu area in Saitama Prefecture. Geoparks are areas that are internationally certified as geological inheritance parks, where precious geographical landscape or geological layers remain.